June Stitch from Stash and Pie

  It's time for some end of the month Pie!

Continuing to hit my 14 days goal on Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow.  This month I completed Block 1 which went from here:

to here:

stitched over one on 25 count Cassia Rose evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

Then down to Block 5 which is pretty much full coverage:

I'll continue with Block 5 in June and then go across to Block 8, if I actually finish it.

So far the number of days is:

Block 7 - 13 days

Block 6 - 16 days

Block 2 - 19 days

Block 3 - 20 days

Block 4 - 15 days

Block 1 - 17 days

Block 5 - 11 days and counting

After my 14 days on Hawk Run Hollow the WIPGO board chose Amanda Butler's Alice in Wonderland design.  I discussed my issues with this in a previous post so suffice to say I completed the final block charted by me from the Tenniel illustration and decided that enough was enough - do the border and call it done!

stitched on 32 count Yellow Belfast Linen

Lots of lovely details in the blocks and the borders

Beaded details in the crowns and clothing

Gold metallics for the watches

"Off with his head!"

Having completed this one I went back to my Little Snapdragon from Kustom Krafts as I was keen to finish the dragon himself.  This only took 2 days so I spent the rest of the month on Nora Corbett's Virgo.  I really want her to be a finish this year so I am popping her in wherever I have a space!

stitched on 32 count Murano in Evening Sky from Crafty Kitten

stitched on 32 count Virgo Murano from Sparklies

I'm doing a slight conversion to more purple colours.  The dark pink in the border is an unlabelled Stef Francis mercerised cotton.  The butterflies are a Stef Francis silk.  They are a little bit close in colour but the silk is more variegated and has some blue tones.  I used a Kreinik silver metallic for the backstitch as that makes them stand out a little more.

Her hair will be the big challenge as there are several shades of pink to convert.  I am thinking of using 3041 and 3042 as my base and seeing what looks good with them.  Watch this space!

Now May is over, I'm back to a rotation for my bath-time stitching and here's the pie for that:

The Dragon from Stitch It Picasso was a finish and will be shown for the FFO Gallery.  After I'd completed that one, I did my Day for the 12 Days and then went back to the 3D Bookshop  from Living on the Rainbow.  Here's where I finished:

stitched on 28 count Tan evenweave

Once I outline the bottom two sides there are a lot of colour changes with a few stitches for each colour.  The plan is to stitch colour-by-colour now.

Finally, on to Stitch from Stash:

Year in the Woods is the Carriage House Sampling series I signed up for the auto-ship from Sparklies.  I also needed a whole batch of DMC.  I tend to stock up once a year.  This time I bought 42 skeins.  The Shannon Christine charts were an impulse buy as she brought out a 12 Days of Christmas series.  How could I resist?

June TUSAL and my Stitching Library

  

It's TUSAL time!  

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current project:

You can see Nora Corbett's Virgo there, I've been adding the pinkypurple to the border today.  Also shown is Just Nan's Tea with Honey which is in the throes of being FFO'd.

What's on my Shelf?

This is a new feature I'm going to include on my TUSAL post until I run out of books! I started a Page on my Happy Dance blog for my Stitching Library and realised what a huge task it was so decided to break it down to one book per month. For the next four years...

Title: Beaded Cross Stitch Treasures - Designs from Mill Hill

Author: Gay Bowles

Publisher: Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. 
ISBN: 9780806955278

What a fabulous book for anyone who enjoyed The People's Choice at the start of the month!  This book contains as many varied beaded projects as you could ever wish for.

The minis stitched on perforated paper or plastic canvas will be familiar to fans of Mill Hill

But have you seen an entire sampler stitched in beads with only a few cross stitches?

Valentine's Hearts

An Autumnal Sampler

Beautiful snowflakes using bugle beads

Spookiness for Halloween

Christmas Ornaments

And this amazing Christmas sampler!

If you are not a fan of beading, any of these could be stitched in DMC.  There is a conversion chart available online.

Finally, I'm going to be taking sign-ups for my Summer Blog Hop on the same theme as last year - Stitching Friends are Friends Who Count. Have a look at this post for last year and let me know if you'd like to take part this year.

Stitching Friends Summer Blog Hop

June WIPocalypse Half Year Goals

        

WIPocalypse is hosted by Measi's Musings

Each month we have to share the projects we want to complete before the End Of The World.  Since 2011 I have chosen a number of projects to focus on that year, starting with my "11 in '11" and increasing to "22 in '22" for this year.  Since my last post I stitched on all the active ones thanks to my Longest Day Marathon.

Here are the ones I stitched on outside the marathon  

2. Kustom Krafts Little Snap Dragon

stitched on 32 count Murano in Evening Sky from Crafty Kitten

5. Carriage House Samplings Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cassia Rose evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

7. Amanda Butler Alice in Wonderland

stitched on 32 count Yellow Belfast Linen

11. Hands On Design Scary Apothecary Skeleton Polish - finish

stitched on 28 count Radioactive Linen from Chromatic Alchemy

17. Jardin Prive 12 Days of Christmas

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue linen

18. Nora Corbett Virgo

stitched on 32 count Virgo Murano from Sparklies

19. Stitch It Picasso Dragon #2 - finish

stitched on 32 count Autumnal Woodland by Crafty Kitten

The full list can be seen here - WIPocalypse and 22 in 22

Finally, Measi always gives us a topic to discuss too.

June - Half-year recap: How are you doing with your goals so far this year?

My two ways to track goals are my 22 in '22 list and my WIPGO Board.  Out of my 22 in '22 I have 4 finishes so far, 1 very close to a finish and 9 projects which haven't been started as they are either time sensitive or dependent on other projects being finished first.

My WIPGO Board is looking good.  I learned what worked best last year so this year I was able to set realistic goals and not put too many time-sensitive pieces.  The only one this year is the Marathon itself which went in 13, the "free" square.

I'm also doing No New Starts 22:22 where I can have no more than 22 projects going at any one time.  That is really helping me keep to the list and not randomly start new things.   I actually have four gaps on the board there.

June Smalls

     

The Smalls SAL is hosted by Mary's Thread

This year my Smalls will be the Jardin Prive 12 Days of Christmas which I started on Boxing Day 2021 for the 12 Days of Stitchmas.

Halfway through the year and the days with 6 Geese a Laying

stitched on 32 count Millenium Blue Linen

Because this year is going to be a Year of Focus, I won't really have a lot of Smalls to share so some are a little bigger, such as Just Nan's Tea with Honey.  When constructed it makes a little tea table and you can purchase a miniature teaset to make into pins to stick on top.   

stitched on 28 count Dusky Pink linen

I've also gone back to my 3D Bookshop from Living on the Rainbow:

stitched on 28 count tan evenweave

Finally, I'm going to be taking sign-ups for my Summer Blog Hop on the same theme as last year - Stitching Friends are Friends Who Count. Have a look at this post for last year and let me know if you'd like to take part this year.

Stitching Friends Summer Blog Hop

Longest Day Marathon 2022

 

This was my seventh annual Marathon for The Longest Day.  I always attempt this as close as possible to the Summer Solstice which was Tuesday 21st June this year.  Unfortunately, I had to work that day to cover a colleague's annual review so I chose Monday 20th for the marathon instead.

Unlike the last two years where Covid and work disrupted play, this year I managed to get the entire marathon done in one day which felt wonderful!

The day started with breakfast, see the boys off to college/school, put a load of washing in and then down to stitching.  First up was Joan Elliott's Face SAL:

9.10 am - Before

I started the background on the centre right block:

9.40 am - Kustom Krafts Little Snapdragon

Filled in some pale blue on his wing:

10.20 am - Chatelaine Gardens of London

Added some vines around the top left garden:

10.50 am - Bothy Threads 12 Days of Christmas

started the background for Day 4:

11.20 am - Carriage House Samplings Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow

stitched the mermaid's tail:

12.00 noon - Mirabilia Fairy Idyll

added some dark brown:

A break for lunch and then

1.10 pm - Amanda Butler Alice in Wonderland

Vines and beading next to the Duchess:

1.40 pm - Jardin Prive 12 Days of Christmas

added some red to Day 7:

2.10 pm - Nora Corbett Virgo

finished the 3051 in the border:

2.45 - Craft Collection Art Nouveau Head

Added some brown at the top:

3.30 pm - Yiotas Coffee Fairy

kept going with the cream on the cup:

Break for Small Boy coming home and needing snacks

4.30 pm - Papillon Around the World in 80 Stitches

Outlined one garden shape:

Break for teatime

7.00 pm - Scarlett Letter English Transitional Sampler

continued with the blue outline:

7.30 pm - Mrs Peggotty Queen of Hearts

added a column of dark brown to the left:

8.00 pm - Just Nan Scream House

added some 581 to the base:

8.30 pm Country Cottage Needlework Halloween Village

added some dark grey to the path

(I didn't get much done on either of those two as I was sitting with my older son watching TV)

9.00 pm Just Nan Tea with Honey

backstitched around the edges:

9.30 pm - Living on the Rainbow Bookstore

backstitched the outline of the side piece:

The marathon finished at 10.00pm as that was time to get the Small Boy ready for bed.

Over the course of the day, I stitched on all 18 of my WIPs in half hour blocks.  That did include taking pictures and posting online.  It's always fun to pick up a piece I haven't stitched on since last year to see if I still like it or not.  There are a few where I think "if I could do a little bit each week, I'd see progress on this one" but then I'd do less on my other pieces!

The long-term plan is to pick one older WIP to focus on until a finish.  This year it is Little Snapdragon.  Once I finish that piece, I will pick another older WIP and focus on that one.  Here's how many projects I worked on for the previous marathons:

2022 - 18 WIPs

2021 - 22 WIPs

2020 - 17 WIPs

2019 - 19 WIPs

2018 - 26 WIPs

2017 - 24 WIPs

2016 - 21 WIPs

Finally, I'm going to be taking sign-ups for my Summer Blog Hop on the same theme as last year - Stitching Friends are Friends Who Count. Have a look at this post for last year and let me know if you'd like to take part this year.

Stitching Friends Summer Blog Hop